A “below-the-hook lifting device” is a sling, hook, magnet, or vacuum device, beam or fabricated structural device that is suspended from the hook of an overhead crane or hoisting device, and used to lift an object. They are also sometimes referred to as overhead lifting devices. Under current standards for the design and manufacture of “below-the-hook lifting devices,” mandatory load testing is not required of the manufacturer. On the other hand, regulatory agencies such as OSHA in the United States, often demand testing and the burden of such testing often falls on the user to provide certification that the lifting device has been load tested prior to use. Failure to comply with testing can result in large fines being levied on the user.
Many manufactures of “below-the-hook lifting devices” (hereinafter “lifting device,” “test device” or “test lift device”) produce such lift devices in batches of several hundred in a single production run. In order to provide testing certification for end-user purchasers, the manufacturer may choose to load test random numbers of lift devices produced in a single production run. This practice does not guarantee that all produced lift devices satisfy the regulatory standards, and it is preferable that every lift device produced be load tested before delivery to a customer. Unfortunately, such a task has to date been prohibitably expensive.
For the above reasons, what is needed is a load test system which can be used by a manufacturer to test every lift device produced in a cost effective way, and with the ability to provide accurate certification to an end-user purchaser that the lift device purchased has been tested and satisfies regulatory standards.